Veterans Benefits GI Bill

Reuters released a report today concerning the development of the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Due to the extensive wait time that the Post 9/11 GI Bill has posed for veterans, reserve, and active duty that have anticipated benefits since August 1st, the VA is initiating a “call every applicant” process to make sure communication is in check until funds are dispersed. (Read the entire story here.)

This means that if you still have not received your funds, the VA should be contacting you–rather than the other way around–to address you questions, comments, and concerns.

Due to the backlog of Post 9/11 GI Bill applications, many veterans, reserve, and active duty have thus far been unable to receive the financial aid they need for this fall semester. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has responded to this by posting how many financial benefits have been distributed on a continual basis–the last update, October 8, 2009, with 2,651 Post 9/11 GI Bill applications processed and 3,461 other government financial aid programs processed.

This does not even begin to squelch the staggering 75,000 applicants for the Post 9/11 GI Bill, which raises up the question: what about the other 72,000+ military students? The answer was emergency funds, which would grant each of these individuals $3,000 in temporary financial aid benefits that would later be deducted from the total financial aid received by the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Combine this with several understanding colleges that are not dropping students because of overdue tuition bills, and you have a sustainable amount of money to hopefully cover textbooks and living expenses until all Post 9/11 GI Bill applications are taken care of. Housing funds is a whole other monster to conquer entirely.